122 BLACK-HEADED, OR LAUGHING GULL. 
as on several islands in the Sound. ‘They constantly evince a dislike 
to rocky shores, and therefore are seldom seen beyond Massachusetts, 
in which State indeed they are exceedingly rare. 
None were observed by any members of my party on the Magdalene 
Islands, or on the coasts of Labrador or Newfoundland. I never met 
with any of them on the Mississippi above New Orleans, although they 
are plentiful in that neighbourhood during winter, and until the breed- 
ing season commences ; and I think that this species never travels be- 
yond the influence of the tide-waters of any stream. Wi son, in speak- 
ing of it, says that it is seen on the newly ploughed fields, and around 
the houses of the farmers of New Jersey; but the habit of visiting 
ploughed grounds I have not observed in any one of the American 
Gulls, although I have frequently noticed it in some of the European 
species, particularly Larus canus, L. ridibundus, and L. argentatus. 
At all periods of the year, the Black-headed Gulls keep in flocks 
formed of many families ; and in the breeding season, or even as soon 
as their courtships have commenced, they assemble by hundreds of 
pairs, or even by thousands. At this time they are so clamorous as to 
stun your ear with their laughing-like cries, though at other seasons 
they are generally silent, unless when suddenly alarmed, or when 
chased by the Jager. Their loves are conducted with extreme pom- 
posity : they strut and bow to the females, throwing their head back- 
wards, like all other Gulls, although in a less degree and with a less 
curious motion than Cormorants. You see them first stretching their 
heads forwards; then with open bill, vibrating tongue, and eyes all 
glowing, they emit their loud laughing notes, which, in a general sense, 
resemble those of many other species, though they are not precisely simi- 
lar to those of any. But before I proceed with my account of their man- 
ners, I will give you the result of some curious observations which I 
made on them in Florida. 
Previously to my visit to that interesting peninsula, I had not un- 
frequently noticed indications of strong amatory propensities in several 
species of Gulls, but never to the extent exhibited by the present spe- 
cies, many of which I saw copulating in the latter part of autumn and 
in winter, fully three months before the usual time of depositing their 
eggs in that country. Similar observations were made on Larus argen- 
tatus, on the coast of Maine, and on Larus marinus, in the Bay of 
Fundy. Nay, even in Europe I have seen this extraordinary tendency 
